Cellular phones are becoming ever more popular. With the rapid advance of technology, along with the rapid reduction in cost, the cellular phone, once a novelty, is now becoming commonplace. It is trivial today to get service with 1000+minutes per month, call waiting, three-way calling, caller ID, paging and voice mail for $30-$50 per month. As a result, more and more people are purchasing and using cellular phones on a regular basis.
The phones themselves, are becoming highly integrated, with more and more features becoming standard. For instance, Motorola recently introduced the StarTac.RTM. clipOn data organizer which turns a normal cellular phone into a management device that keeps track of telephone numbers, appointments and to-do lists. The Nextel i1000.RTM. phone has a built in speaker phone and pager. Today's cellular telephones are thus becoming multifunctional desktop tools in addition to telephony devices.
The general trend in telephone design, however, is making the phones smaller and more ergonomic. Telephone manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson are all designing smaller phones with more contours and rounded surfaces. An example would be the Motorola V-Series, or the Nokia 6100 series telephones. These phones are small enough to fit in a pocket. They can also generally be worn on a belt in a custom holster. They are generally curved with no flat surfaces in order to fit comfortably within the hand.
The drawback to these smaller, more contoured designs is that they are incapable of standing upright upon a desk. They lay on the largest surface which generally results in the display, speaker, microphone, and keypad facing the ceiling. The user, in order to clearly see the phone, as well as to talk directly into the microphone, must position himself over and above the phone, which is awkward. This is very much a problem with phones that include features like speaker phone and voice recognition, for they do not perform optimally unless the user speaks directly into the microphone. Further, it is disconcerting when the phone has a limited viewing angle with which to see the display. While phone manufacturers often provide desk stand chargers, they can be cumbersome to carry as well as expensive.
There is therefore a need for a self contained means for standing a cellular phone or radio upon a desk.